The Mercenary
Grandmaster Knight

I was thinking about it while moving furniture around today. Basically, a troop rebalance to every faction. What it would entail is a large change in the growth of the power of soldiers in each faction. For Swadia, for example, you would have your initiates, very inexperienced and bad at combat. Acolytes would be slightly more experienced and capable, as would proselytes, but the changes would be very noticeable - they would match a 6th level player or a 9th level player. Eventually, you'd reach the mid-tier soldiers, who would be as capable as say, an 18th level player. Knights would be up at a 25th level player, and the elites would go up to even 40th level players. Dark Knights would remain at their power level, elites would lose some power, and mid-tiers would gain some power - in addition, kingdoms would be rebalanced so that the armies would be composed mostly of mid-tiers. The leveling of the troops would also be changed so that it's fairly easy to get them up to mid-tier, but afterward is very difficult to get them to elites. The ease would be about as much as that of leveling yourself to a mid-tier troop's power. So, assuming the player starts at level 1 with 7 strength, 5 agility, 4 intelligence, and 4 charisma (which is the base stats for every soldier that's not elite in the current method of troop balancing), and four skill points, you might end up with a soldier, 18th level character, with 15 strength, 10 agility, 8 intelligence, 4 charisma, 5 ironflesh, 5 powerstrike, 3 athletics, 3 shield, 3 weaponmaster, 2 inventory management, 2 looting, and 2 trade - he gains the same amount of skill, attribute points as the player, and has the same limitations - for every 3 points in an attribute, you may put 1 point into an associated skill. Weapon proficiencies would be tweaked as well, as a representation of the soldier's basic skills with his weapon. As a basic comparison, I've done the first few tiers of the Swadian troop tree:
Notice how the Sergeant gains few abilities from the Veteran Soldier - the main change would be in weapon proficiencies, he would jump up 40 points in skill with his weapon.
As for changes to elites, you'd see something like this:
Despite its increase in levels, and therefore wages, the Ivory Archer actually decreases in power. Relative to other soldiers, however, it is still much more highly powered, and precious. Similarly, the Crusader.
Again, power decreases as level increases, but compared to say, a sergeant, the crusader is a much more powerful combatant - he is still easily taken down by a small mob of enemies though, as it should be.
Anyway, just throwing this out there. If done, it would take a while to implement, due to having to recalculate a couple hundred soldiers' stats. Many elites would also be removed in favor of mid-tiers, and elites would be extremely annoying to get through leveling them from noble units. Noble units would also start off at a higher level and with more abilities than a peasant unit. Elites would be more easily gotten via their special buildings. They would be costly, but you wouldn't be able to just hire one and send him off to go butcher enemies - they'd be special soldiers that you'd use to reinforce your army and make it stronger, but you'd wince when you saw one die. That is to say, elites would be just that - elite soldiers who are used to bolster your army, and are far superior to normal soldiers, but are still easily killed by normal soldiers. They would no longer be the backbone of a player's army - that would fall to the infantry, the soldiers.
Initiate
Level 1
7 STR
5 AGI
4 INT
4 CHA
1 Ironflesh
1 Powerstrike
1 Athletics
1 Shield
Proselyte
Level 5
9 STR
6 AGI
5 INT
4 CHA
2 Ironflesh
3 Powerstrike
2 Athletics
1 Shield
1 Inventory Management
Acolyte
Level 9
12 STR
7 AGI
5 INT
4 CHA
3 Ironflesh
3 Powerstrike
2 Athletics
2 Shield
1 Inventory Management
1 Weaponmaster
1 Trade
Trained Soldier
Level 14
12 STR
10 AGI
7 INT
4 CHA
4 Ironflesh
4 Powerstrike
3 Athletics
2 Shield
2 Inventory Management
2 Weaponmaster
1 Trade
Soldier
Level 18
15 STR
10 AGI
8 INT
4 CHA
5 Ironflesh
5 Powerstrike
3 Athletics
3 Shield
3 Weaponmaster
2 Inventory Management
2 Looting
2 Trade
Veteran Soldier
Level 22
16 STR
12 AGI
9 INT
4 CHA
5 Ironflesh
5 Powerstrike
4 Athletics
4 Shield
4 Weaponmaster
3 Inventory Management
2 Looting
3 Trade
Sergeant
Level 25
16 STR
15 AGI
9 INT
4 CHA
5 Ironflesh
5 Powerstrike
5 Athletics
4 Shield
4 Weaponmaster
1 Leadership
3 Inventory Management
2 Looting
3 Trade
Level 1
7 STR
5 AGI
4 INT
4 CHA
1 Ironflesh
1 Powerstrike
1 Athletics
1 Shield
Proselyte
Level 5
9 STR
6 AGI
5 INT
4 CHA
2 Ironflesh
3 Powerstrike
2 Athletics
1 Shield
1 Inventory Management
Acolyte
Level 9
12 STR
7 AGI
5 INT
4 CHA
3 Ironflesh
3 Powerstrike
2 Athletics
2 Shield
1 Inventory Management
1 Weaponmaster
1 Trade
Trained Soldier
Level 14
12 STR
10 AGI
7 INT
4 CHA
4 Ironflesh
4 Powerstrike
3 Athletics
2 Shield
2 Inventory Management
2 Weaponmaster
1 Trade
Soldier
Level 18
15 STR
10 AGI
8 INT
4 CHA
5 Ironflesh
5 Powerstrike
3 Athletics
3 Shield
3 Weaponmaster
2 Inventory Management
2 Looting
2 Trade
Veteran Soldier
Level 22
16 STR
12 AGI
9 INT
4 CHA
5 Ironflesh
5 Powerstrike
4 Athletics
4 Shield
4 Weaponmaster
3 Inventory Management
2 Looting
3 Trade
Sergeant
Level 25
16 STR
15 AGI
9 INT
4 CHA
5 Ironflesh
5 Powerstrike
5 Athletics
4 Shield
4 Weaponmaster
1 Leadership
3 Inventory Management
2 Looting
3 Trade
Notice how the Sergeant gains few abilities from the Veteran Soldier - the main change would be in weapon proficiencies, he would jump up 40 points in skill with his weapon.
As for changes to elites, you'd see something like this:
Ivory Archer
Level 32
36 STR
36 AGI
4 INT
4 CHA
10 Ironflesh
7 Powerstrike
12 Powerdraw
8 Athletics
10 Weaponmaster
Level 32
36 STR
36 AGI
4 INT
4 CHA
10 Ironflesh
7 Powerstrike
12 Powerdraw
8 Athletics
10 Weaponmaster
Ivory Archer
Level 42
36 STR
15 AGI
6 INT
4 CHA
4 Ironflesh
4 Powerstrike
12 Powerdraw
5 Athletics
5 Weaponmaster
4 Trade
3 Looting
2 Inventory Management
Level 42
36 STR
15 AGI
6 INT
4 CHA
4 Ironflesh
4 Powerstrike
12 Powerdraw
5 Athletics
5 Weaponmaster
4 Trade
3 Looting
2 Inventory Management
Despite its increase in levels, and therefore wages, the Ivory Archer actually decreases in power. Relative to other soldiers, however, it is still much more highly powered, and precious. Similarly, the Crusader.
Crusader
Level 36
36 STR
16 AGI
24 INT
16 CHA
12 Ironflesh
12 Powerstrike
10 Weaponmaster
10 Riding
10 Shield
Level 36
36 STR
16 AGI
24 INT
16 CHA
12 Ironflesh
12 Powerstrike
10 Weaponmaster
10 Riding
10 Shield
Crusader
Level 48
36 STR
18 AGI
9 INT
4 CHA
12 Ironflesh
12 Powerstrike
6 Weaponmaster
6 Riding
6 Shield
3 Trade
1 Leadership
4 Looting
3 Inventory Management
Level 48
36 STR
18 AGI
9 INT
4 CHA
12 Ironflesh
12 Powerstrike
6 Weaponmaster
6 Riding
6 Shield
3 Trade
1 Leadership
4 Looting
3 Inventory Management
Again, power decreases as level increases, but compared to say, a sergeant, the crusader is a much more powerful combatant - he is still easily taken down by a small mob of enemies though, as it should be.
Anyway, just throwing this out there. If done, it would take a while to implement, due to having to recalculate a couple hundred soldiers' stats. Many elites would also be removed in favor of mid-tiers, and elites would be extremely annoying to get through leveling them from noble units. Noble units would also start off at a higher level and with more abilities than a peasant unit. Elites would be more easily gotten via their special buildings. They would be costly, but you wouldn't be able to just hire one and send him off to go butcher enemies - they'd be special soldiers that you'd use to reinforce your army and make it stronger, but you'd wince when you saw one die. That is to say, elites would be just that - elite soldiers who are used to bolster your army, and are far superior to normal soldiers, but are still easily killed by normal soldiers. They would no longer be the backbone of a player's army - that would fall to the infantry, the soldiers.




